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Gomes v. Mossberg Industries12/11/2000
In this case, Fernandinho P. Gomes appeals following the entry of judgment as a matter of law against him on his product liability personal injury claim for damages against Mossberg Industries, Inc. The parties were directed by order of a prebriefing justice of this Court to appear and show cause why the issues raised in the appeal should not be summarily decided. After consideration of counsels' memoranda and arguments, we conclude that cause has not been shown and we will proceed to summarily decide the appeal. For the reasons hereinafter set out, we deny and dismiss his appeal.
I. Case Facts and Travel
On January 23, 1992, Fernandinho P. Gomes (Gomes) was an employee of Hope Webbing, Inc. (Hope Webbing), a local textile plant specializing in the manufacture of close-thread braiding products, such as shoelaces. On that day, while mopping a water spill adjacent to a motorized drive shaft that powered a series of close thread-braiding machines, his left arm became entangled in the fast-revolving drive shaft, resulting in the loss of his left arm below the elbow and injury to his right hand and three fingers on that hand.
In August 1994, Gomes sued Mossberg Industries, Inc. (Mossberg), alleging in his complaint that it had designed, manufactured and sold the allegedly defective and dangerous drive shaft to Hope Webbing. He alleged that Mossberg had "introduced" or "furnished" to Hope Webbing a drive shaft that it knew or should have known was negligently designed, defective, and inherently dangerous, and for which it was strictly liable for having caused his injuries and damages. He sought both compensatory and punitive damages.
About four years later, in October 1998, Gomes filed an amended complaint, claiming essentially the same causes of action and damages, but asserting now that the allegedly inherently dangerous drive shaft had been designed, manufactured and sold to Hope Webbing by New England Butt Company, and that Mossberg was liable to him as the "successor-in-interest" to New England Butt Company.
At his Superior Court jury trial in October 1998, Gomes, through his witnesses, some of whom testified in person and others by deposition, sought to establish Mossberg's liability to him for his injuries. Gomes himself neither attended nor appeared at the trial and was purportedly out of the country. Unfortunately for his cause, however, the testimony of several of the key witnesses called by Gomes's attorney to establish Mossberg's liability were unable to do so. For example, the deposition testimony of Peter Heaney, a former plant manager at Hope Webbing, disclosed that Hope Webbing had never purchased the drive shaft in question or the shaft hangers supporting it from New England Butt Company. Heaney's deposition testimony was that " he only thing Hope Webbing bought off New England Butt were 20 braiding machines in the year - in the 1970's, I believe '72, '73." Heaney also testified that the motor powering the drive shaft had not been purchased from New England Butt Company, but had been purchased either from Jet Electric or from other companies that were in the process of going out of business. He further testified that the drive shaft in question had been set up to power the braiding machines by Hope Webbing's own millwright, Joseph St. Dennis.
The deposition testimony of another plaintiff's witness, Louis R. Perrotta, who had been employed as an engineer at New England Butt Company since 1946 and who had retired in June 1984, was read to the trial jury. In it, Perrotta testified unequivocally that the particular drive shaft that caused Gomes's injury had never been "manufactured or distributed" by New England Butt Compa
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